How much of that $60.5 million did you receive last month? Yes, the top sellers make more while cutting our balls off and removing any chance to make revenue.

I love how the argument is that if they didn’t have to pay out so many punitive fees they could “introduce” more opportunities for all of us to make more money and have more choices for the consumer. So you’re telling me you can’t afford to introduce those so called “opportunities” with what you’re (Pandora) is making already.

Since any person out there can now just open up their Pandora or Spotify app, plug into their car stereo and listen to almost any song they want to for nothing, literally not a penny of cost to the listener, the entire model of making money from record sales for the industry of music has completely taken a dive and it seems that no one wants to admit that payouts for streaming are so small that they really make up pretty much no portion of our income as labels, artists and songwriters. I am in Nashville as we speak and have been meeting with different friends of mine to discuss my own future prospects and I’ve been doing some thinking and came up with an idea.

I’ve been a country singer and songwriter for over 10 yrs now and I’ve sold over 10,000 albums and well over 10,000 singles, so coming to the conclusion that giving away my music has been extremely hard for me as I know it’s hard for the labels and artists selling 100,000. But those guys are now even more few and far between than ever. I can tell you after meeting with the publishers, labels and managers over the course of the last couple of days it has become very apparent to me that we as an industry have no choice but to create a new model for a revenue stream to take the place of the lack of sales that are now happening due to the public’s opportunity to just stream and get music legally for free. As an artist, publisher and label owner I acquire all of the pieces of the pie when it comes to the revenue stream created from my music. But there are songwriters who don’t perform or record and release their own music. They require someone like me to record the song, release it on an album and bring it to radio and begin the process of making their money that way. Well, if you give away the music, it pretty much kills most of the revenue stream opportunity for the songwriter and for the label.

What I suggest as a solution:

Step 1…Live Performance Royalties
In Europe and other countries around the world, when you hear a song live at a concert or in a pub, the artist and venue are required to submit a setlist to the PRO (performing rights organization) for payouts to the copyright owners of those songs. Obviously, this is beginning to happen here in the US and will continually become more prevalent as less and less music is actually purchased.

Step 2…Physical Sales/Giveaways of CD’s
I would like to test the theory of offering my fans a FREE copy of my brand new unreleased EP “Dealing With The Man” only asking them to come to a show and pay a cover charge or ticket price. I, as the artist, will have to negotiate a portion of the ticket sales to paying for the duplication costs and the publishing fees associated with my co-writers and their publishers. I won’t disclose the actual costs but can say that it’s very possible to do and everyone involved will be able to profit from their hard work and the fans will also enjoy the idea of getting music for free.

Step 3…Digital Sales/Giveaways of Singles
The only way to see any solution in offering free downloading to my fans who aren’t able to come and see me LIVE, yet still paying the publishers and myself as the label, is to ask for a donation with a minimum amount of .10 cents to cover the publishing royalties and just taking a risk on my part as the label and hoping that fans will be generous enough to offer up some sort of donation to cover my recording costs. This is the only way I can see a possibility for all the parties involved to still be able to survive in these times of free streaming.

My theory is that I would rather give away 100,000 copies of this new EP than sell 10,000. More fans listening to my music means that more fans will show up at my shows and my ticket sales will go up and in essence my revenue will go up.

It’s just a theory but it sure does seem like it might work. I’ve printed 1,000 copies of this unreleased EP and I’m ready to try it.

Well, I’m home from what I guess you could say was the 2nd run of our “Balls & Nuts Radio Tour”. And judging by the continued satisfied reactions, our “Balls & Nuts” are still a “HUGE” hit…

Before the road trip officially began, we had a leisurely trip to Leesville, LA to visit with Jim Kay at KVVP. What a great visit on and off the air! We tried not to mix politics and music, but sometimes they just go together! Anyway, it was a BALL! Then, back to Baton Rouge to kiss the kids and head out for another week on the road.

My first stop out on the trip was in Tupelo, MS and I couldn’t wait to get to the birthplace of “The King of Rock & Roll” and also the town of my favorite song in the WHOLE world “Tupelo Honey” by Van “the man” Morrison was titled after.

I pulled into the HOJO about 2:00 am in the morning and I was due on the air at 6:00 am, so there was no time to play, and not enough time to sleep, but time can’t stop me…lol

I made it to WWZD and was introduced to the world of Kelli & Roadkill Bill. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time that early in the morning…Not only were we watching some of the funniest videos from Tupelo’s top talent pool, (just kidding) but they managed to eat all the Balls & Nuts while I was there. Anyone who knows me figures out quickly that I don’t stop talking and sure enough that morning before I knew it, I had stayed on the air with them for 3 straight hours. Check out their blog to see some of the videos we were watching…Absolutely HILARIOUS… Kelli & Roadkill Bill Blog I was so hungry when I left the station and it being 10:00 in the morning I knew I would have trouble finding lunch that wasn’t fast food. So I drove aimlessly through Tupelo with NO idea where I was going and as I somehow always do, I found this KILLER local dive called “Shockley’s”.

They had just put out the lunch buffet and I’m telling you it was the best pot roast I’d had in a long time. I also got a chance to visit with some real nice locals.

I decided to take the Natchez Trace towards Nashville and I’m so glad I did. As aggravating as it can be going 55 the entire way, the scenery was so nice. I never really get to drive it during the day and being all by my lonesome, so I turned on my favorite talk show and cruised on in to Nashville.

The next morning my first stop was in the small town of Pulaski, TN where I was greeted with southern hospitality at it’s finest. Ed Carter and his staff at WKSR were so kind to me. I had already forgotten to take a picture in Tupelo and I knew if I forgot again Kay was gonna strangle me, so I made sure and snagged one with Ed…Thanks again buddy.

An hour later I pulled into Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL and I was very excited about finally getting the chance to go to KIX 96 and see my buddy Fletcher Brown and his beautiful staff again…I mean this station is nothing but gorgeous girls. Sam Phillips taught you well my friend. j/j We shot an artist interview which will be up on their site very soon. Check it out

Again, the Balls and Nuts were a huge hit…They seem to be with all the girls, I don’t know why. LOL

On Wednesday, I asked my mentor Dan Tyler to join me on my trip to Cookeville, TN to WGSQ 94.7 “The Country Giant” to hang out with Philip Gibbons. He was so impressed with Dan not realizing the amount of hit songs Dan has written. We started talking about writing songs and Philip played us a real tearjerker before we left called “Daddy’s Week”. I, of course, was the one tearing up. Wow, what a powerful tune that is. Maybe I’ll cut it one day.

It was nice having some time to catch up with Dan and give him all the scoop on what’s been going on in my world. He is someone who I’ve always had the utmost respect for. We had such a great time that he asked me if he could do it again and of course I accepted.

Thursday was my day off from radio visits and I spent the entire 1st half of the day re-cutting the vocals on “If You’re A Tiger Fan”. I sure do miss having my recording gear at my fingertips all the time. But, you can’t do it all, all the time. After I finished recording what I could I packed up my stuff, picked up Cary Noyd (Guitar Player) and headed out again this time to the great State of Georgia…When we left Nashville I thought we were just going to Chattanooga for the night but instead we decided to go ALL THE WAY to Blue Ridge, GA…Now I didn’t put 2 & 2 together when I heard the name “Blue Ridge”, but it just so happens we were heading straight into the “Blue Ridge Mountains” of Northern Georgia. There is nothing more thrilling than driving in the middle of the night through the mountains and having VERY LITTLE visibility. But we made it safely at roughly 2:00 am and Ron at Comfort Inn was so cool, he didn’t even make us wait to check in. We hit the sack immediately for a 6:30 am wake up call.

We woke up on time and by then, sleep deprivation had started taking effect on me because my eyes looked like 2 pee holes in the snow. (Thanks Cary for the description) but they sure did open wide when I walked out the front door of the hotel and saw the AMAZING view of Blue Ridge, GA. HOLY COW this place is enchanting. Thanks to Ron @ Comfort Inn for saving us from getting totally lost because gps on the iPhone sucks in the mountains. We took the turn Ron sent us on and it headed up this hill (looked like a mountain to a Coon Ass like me) and I almost pulled into someone’s driveway. You know they’ll shoot if you trespass in some parts of the world, so I wasn’t taking any chances. I called Jim Quintin at WPPL and he couldn’t believe we were even on the right hill. We did find the dirt road though that led us to this very quant brand new little building. But don’t be mistaken by size, they have a very powerful signal there and … and Jim were so nice. Jim even came in 2 hrs early to do the visit, which was really cool of him to make the extra effort.

Unfortunately, we had to boogie out of there fast due to a super tight schedule because our next stop was 4 hrs away in Thomson, GA and we were due there at 12:15 and it was 8:00 already. I will say this, if you want to visit somewhere peaceful, I suggest you go to Blue Ridge. Libby and I will definitely be spending a weekend there soon.

After a missed turn (or 2) we literally pulled up at the station at exactly 12:15. The door swung open at and the very first thing out of Steve Ferguson’s mouth was, “take your time and come on in”. I thought it was funny cuz I was sweatin bullets there for a minute thinking we were going to be late and Steve, like Jim in Blue Ridge, changed his entire schedule around to meet with me. I can’t say it enough how awesome it is when radio folks do these kinds of things. It really shows character and how much respect they have for us “NEW ARTISTS”.

We had a spectacular visit at WTHO and it felt like we had known each other for years. Steve was voted 2009 Music Row “Radio Programmer of the Year”. Congrats on an amazing accomplishment in your career. We shared a lot of mutual stories about one of our heroes “Garth Brooks”. Check out the pics on Steve’s facebook singing with “Garth” at CRS last year. So cool…

After being at WTHO for 2 hrs, we headed to Coyote’s in Augusta, GA to open up for “John Anderson”. I want to thank my long time friend Johnny Jackson for making that happen… Love you bro…Here’s a couple pics of the people that night…

What another amazing week I had meeting all of the great people that make country radio the driving force it is. I’ve prepared a slide show to show my appreciation to all of the stations that have added my NEW SINGLE “Live, Laugh, Love & Drink”

Would love for you to call the new stations and request the single, “Live, Laugh, Love, & Drink”. Check the last blog for the 1st leg stations request lines, also. Thanks fans! You make country radio rock and we need your requests!

Just got done with the 1st leg (not 3rd, that’s to come) of the “Balls & Nuts” Tour – Wanna know how that name came about? Well, we grabbed our balls (those great cake balls made by Gabby at Brew Ha!Ha! in Baton Rouge) and hit the road. After a great Labor Day weekend rockin’ the house at The Chill at the Imperial Palace Casino in Biloxi, we hit the road to Arkansas.

Our first stop was KWCK in Searcy, AR where we had a great visit with Heath on air at 7 AM. It’s hard to be chipper at 7 AM, but when you arrive with “balls in hand” everyone’s happy!

Stopped at McDonalds for a quick coffee before runnin’ on to Conway and met “Summer” in line – Louisiana folks just seem to seek each other out! I hope she’s calling that request line (501-279-7999)!

At Conway, we visited with JR at KCNY.

I learned that folks in these parts “Live, Laugh, & Love”, but have to go somewhere else to “Drink” since these are “dry counties” – somethin’ we don’t know much about in Louisiana!

We made it to Russellville, AR by lunch and had a great lunch at a local restaurant, “Stoby’s”. The food was good, but the waitress Andrea was great

and she got us out just in time for our visit with Jarrett, “The Wild Man”, at KCJC. Another really fun visit – we talked music & football, of course. It’s that time of the year.

After that, we stopped in at KTCS in Fort Smith and KIX 104 in Fayetteville, AR. Ms. Sharon at KIX was such a sweetheart and told us what a “snaky road” it was to Harrison, so we decided to hang in Fayetteville for the evening. Seemed like a good place to “Live, Laugh, Love, & Drink”, especially, since my co-writer for the single, Rick Garoutte, lived just down the road in Rodgers, AR. After a few beers at Louie’s (which stimulated some more great song ideas, of course) – it was a good thing we stayed in Fayetteville! If you are ever in Louie’s, make sure to tell Mandy and the other great waitresses that David sent ya’!

The next morning, we headed to Harrison, AR (really glad we did not drive it in the dark – it was rough enough at 5 AM!) We arrived just in time for our 7AM with “Dr. Dave” at KBCN. It was a wild and crazy fun visit – and, so glad we still “had our balls.” What a great way to start the day, especially when Lisa, the Program Director, informed us that KBCN had added the single on Labor Day! Yes, Lisa deserved a big hug!

Good news always makes ya’ hungry – so, “Dr. Dave” sent us for breakfast at “the best place ever, “Roosters”. BBQ on your biscuits in the morning – Wow!

Thanks for breakfast guys!

So, with food in our bellies and balls in the car, we drove on to Mexico (Missouri, that is). Arrived just in time for lunch across the street from the station. Then, on to KWWR with Mark Robertson.

The interview will be aired locally and streamed last Monday at noon on their “New Artists at noon program”.

After a late night and early morning, we were really glad to arrive in Warrenton for the night. Had a nice relaxing dinner with my friend, Shane (who designed all of my websites) and my friend, Glenn (who worked Radio for me during Nashville Star in 2007.

It was nice to wake up in Warrenton, MO and just head on down to the station KFAV “Today’s Hot Country” to meet with Mike Thomas. Great visit – we had so much in common!

Moving on to Farmington, MO to KTJJ (J98 The Boot) for 11 AM visit with Scott Kabala. I was “on air” with Tom Lively.

The tour ended up in Crossville, TN at WOWF, “WOW Country, 102.5” and we had a great visit with Gordon Stack.

Now, back to Nashville for the LSU/Vandy game and a big after party at the Red Rooster!

What a great way to end the first leg of our radio tour…….and, our balls made it the whole way – we still had a couple balls and a lotta nuts when it was all over –

Friendship?
It’s not expectations. If it’s real, then it’s based on understanding. And it’s forgiving. That’s what true friendships are. They’re not based on what you can do for each other. I don’t expect any more than just knowing someone and don’t just walk away from my friends when they don’t step out for me. True colors always show their face eventually. And the true friends always remain. If it’s REAL friendship from both people, then time will heal…

What a killer way to start 2010…The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl and it was on my birthday. I desperatly tried hard not to celebrate on my 32nd, but it turned out I was like a kid all over again. Thank you NO for giving us, the “Who Dat Nation” so much to be proud of.
You know sometimes when things happen that are out of your control you just have to smile and thank God for what you do have. Because everyone has their own interests in mind anyway, and so do I. Maybe it’ll work out for the best…

Can’t spill the dirt just yet, but it won’t be long till I can give you the good stuff. Let’s just say that not all stars are good people..
See yall soon..DSR

While I sit on another flight, I figured I should write a new blog. As you can see I have been busier than I’ve ever been. My debut single and new partnership with the NKF are teaching me life lessons left and right. One thing is for certain, it sure feels good to be reaching for my dream while helping others at the same time. Traveling has truly set in too and I am realizing that a lack of sleep is going to be a part of my life from here on out. I should’ve known that when I had kids. Both career and family couldn’t be better though…

The video for “That’s Love” is almost complete and ready for broadcast. I’ve only seen it a couple of times and I am completly moved inside and out from the performance of our two sisters. Our entire crew did an amazing job and I’m so proud of the final result. Thanks again to all of you guys…look for the official video to be posted online at YouTube.com/davidstromain VERY SOON!!!!
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel also while you’re there….

Well, the stewardess just checked me and said to shut this off…holla!!!
DSR